Ed Sheeran has announced that he will be taking a hiatus from working on his next album to introduce a new youth music initiative.
The 33-year-old artist has seven number-one albums under his belt, the highest-selling of which was Divide, a record-breaking album released in 2017.
Ed announced he is planning to introduce a new program to increase financing for music education in schools nationwide.
In 2018, the musician’s former teacher informed him about budget cutbacks at Thomas Mills High institution in Suffolk, and the hitmaker responded by donating millions of dollars to the institution.
Sheeran said that in England, financing for music studies has almost been eliminated, so he is making every effort to get funds for it.
The singer/songwriter has also funded schools in areas other than music. The school’s art and IT departments have been gifted a photographic darkroom, MacBooks, and cameras from the Ed Sheeran Suffolk Music Foundation, a charity run by the A Team hitmaker.
The Aldeburgh Hospital League of Friends received £20,000 from the foundation, which strives to assist Suffolk youth via music education and performance grants. The money will be used for a sensory garden project that will include instruments for patients.
Sheeran said that academically, he would have been considered “stupid.” But music allowed him to make something of himself. And now he feels compelled to give back and help other students.
British musicians dominate a new ranking created by music licensing corporation PPL, and Ed was crowned the most-played artist in the UK for the eighth year in a row last month.
The Suffolk singer-songwriter has had more songs aired on British radio, TV, and public spaces than anybody else.
Since his 2011 debut album peaked at number one worldwide, Sheeran has topped the charts seven times and sold over 150 million albums.
